By "development can be planned up front" I mean on a really simple level. I think the example I gave in the presentation was that if you were implementing a use

By "development can be planned up front" I mean on a really simple level. I think the example I gave in the presentation was that if you were implementing a user comments feature, you could reference the spec to find the other parts of the site/app that also need user comments and implement a single solution that will cover all cases. One of the downsides to agile is that you don't always know what's coming further down the road, so you either have to build extremely generic solutions (usually a waste) or very specific solutions that get adapted over time (refactoring is also wasteful). In situations where budget is tight - which is the position I was coming from - it is optimal to have solutions that are Just Generic Enough to cover needs. Thanks for your comments :)